Local hospitals praised in patient survey

More than 90 per cent of patients were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with their overall experience in local hospitals, a new survey has revealed.

Respondents were asked to rate their overall experience on a number of aspects of their inpatient stay.

Questionnaires were posted to 3,437 people who had been inpatients at some stage during 2017.

1,265 (37%) of those contacted responded.

There are two acute hospitals in the Western Health Trust (WHSCT) area - Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry and the South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen.

Most favourable and least favourable results for the Western Trust relative to the overall Northern Ireland results were:

* Respondents in the Western Trust were less likely to report that they had been bothered at night by noise from other patients or noise from hospital staff.

* The proportion of respondents rating the food as good or very good was higher in the Western Trust (70%) than in NI overall (65%).

* Around four-fifths of respondents (79%) in the Western Trust reported that the toilets and bathrooms they used were very clean compared with 71% of respondents overall.

* A higher proportion of respondents in the WHSCT reported that a member of staff always told them (or their carer) about medication side effects to watch for when they went home (57% compared with 49% overall).

When it comes to complaints, just under a fifth of respondents (16%) in the Western Trust indicated that there was some aspect of their care that they were dissatisfied with.

Of these respondents, 26% had made a verbal complaint to ward staff and 6% had made a written complaint.